Have You Been Conditioned To Work Grudgingly?

“What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.”
– Julia Cameron

Jonathan Mead released the first video in the Paid To Exist series – (now removed).

The most interesting thing to me is he talks about how we’ve been conditioned to dislike “work”:

“Most people rent out their minds to other people to help them achieve their goals and further their own purposes in order to make a paycheck, pay bills and survive. That is pretty much the standard way most people accept…

We grew up believing that work was supposed to be a chore, that work was supposed to be grudgingly done – and we believed there was supposed to be a distinct separation between work on the one hand and play on the other. They’re not supposed to comingle, they’re not supposed to coexist.

Because we grew up with this model, we believed that this was the required way of living our entire lives – but it’s not.

And just because it’s the norm, doesn’t mean you can’t do something different…

You’ve been conditioned to believe that work and fulfillment and enjoyment can’t coexist – you didn’t know that there was another way.

You didn’t consciously choose this.”
– Jonathan Mead, The End Of Mind Renting

That really got me thinking, because it’s true – I don’t think we’re born disliking “doing productive things.” Somewhere along the way we get conditioned – and I think most likely the cause is media, society, and a general attitude of disdain towards work. Consider this definition I found online:

Conditioning: Associating a response with a previously unrelated stimulus.

So, the question to me becomes – are we born disliking work? If we are, then it’s innate – but I don’t think so. I would argue that as humans, we actually enjoy building things and shaping the world the way we desire. As a kid, I enjoyed building snow forts for no reason, sand castles, massive Lego cities. Even as a software engineer, I actually do enjoy building lots of things – whether personal projects, websites, silly little graphics programs – and yes, from time to time, even solving difficult problems for real “work.”

That’s why, at least for me, it seems to me then that if we truly just “worked” by making a living doing things we enjoyed, we wouldn’t have this general attitude of dissatisfaction towards work – we’ve been conditioned though to associate work as being something that’s not enjoyable, just like Jonathan says – and we need to unlearn that association if we’re going to be “paid to exist.”

Jonathan encourages us to open our minds to the idea that work doesn’t need to cause a negative knee-jerk reaction – that there are ways to blend our talents, activities we enjoy and still produce value for others. Is it possible – or just a pipe dream? A great starting point is Reclaiming Your Dreams, and Living The Life Of Your Dreams

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Please note: Jonathan Mead is a personal friend of mine and a mentor. His guidance has been invaluable to me over the past couple of years, and watching any of his stuff really fires me up, and gets me motivated to work on my dreams. That’s why I am such a big fan of his work such as his Courage To Follow Your Dreams free teleclass, his free Zero Hour Work Week ebook and his Reclaim Your Dreams guides. I recommend all his stuff. Business transactions occurring involving Jonathan Mead may result in referral compensation to me. Jonathan’s free videos and products are 100% free and do not require credit cards or proof of ability to pay to view. Please note that no personally identifying information is collected without your consent and that you are under no obligation to provide any personal information to view the free information presented.